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neurosis, plural neuroses, also called psychoneurosis or plural psychoneuroses, mental disorder that causes a sense of distress and deficit in functioning.

Neuroses are characterized by anxiety, depression, or other feelings of unhappiness or distress that are out of proportion to the circumstances of a person’s life. They may impair a person’s functioning in virtually any area of his life, relationships, or external affairs, but they are not severe enough to incapacitate the person. Affected patients generally do not suffer from the loss of the sense of reality seen in persons with psychoses.

Psychiatrists first used the term neurosis in the mid-19th century to categorize symptoms thought to be neurological in origin; the prefix “psycho-” was added some decades later when it became clear that mental and emotional factors were important in the etiology of these disorders. The terms are now used interchangeably, although the shorter word is more common. Both terms, however, lack the precision required for psychological diagnosis and are no longer used for that purpose.

Theories

An influential view held by the psychoanalytic tradition is that neuroses arise from intrapsychic conflict (conflict between different drives, impulses, and motives held within various components of the mind). Central to psychoanalytic theory, which was founded by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, is the postulated existence of an unconscious part of the mind which, among other functions, acts as a repository for repressed thoughts, feelings, and memories that are disturbing or otherwise unacceptable to the conscious mind. These repressed mental contents are typically sexual or aggressive urges or painful memories of an emotional loss or an unsatisfied longing dating from childhood. Anxiety arises when these unacceptable and repressed drives threaten to enter consciousness; prompted by anxiety, the conscious part of the mind (the ego) tries to deflect the emergence into consciousness of the repressed mental contents through the use of defense mechanisms such as repression, denial, or reaction formation. Neurotic symptoms often begin when a previously impermeable defense mechanism breaks down and a forbidden drive or impulse threatens to enter consciousness. See alsopsychoanalysis.

While the psychoanalytic theory has continued to be influential, another prominent view, associated with behavioral psychology, represents neurosis as a learned, inappropriate response to stress that can be unlearned. A third view, stemming from cognitive theory, emphasizes the way in which maladaptive thinking—such as the fear of possible punishment—promotes an inaccurate perception of the self and surrounding events.

Types

Obsessive-compulsive disorders are characterized by the irresistible entry of unwanted ideas, thoughts, or feelings into consciousness or by the need to repeatedly perform ritualistic actions that the sufferer perceives as unnecessary or unwarranted. Obsessive ideas may include recurrent violent or obscene thoughts; compulsive behaviour includes rituals such as repetitive hand washing or door locking. The drug clomipramine has proved effective in treating many patients with obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Somatoform disorders, which include the so-called hysterical, or conversion, neuroses, manifest themselves in physical symptoms, such as blindness, paralysis, or deafness that are not caused by organic disease. Hysteria was among the earliest syndromes to be understood and treated by psychoanalysts, who believe that such symptoms result from fixations or arrested stages in an individual’s early psychosexual development. (Seeconversion disorder.)

In anxiety disorders, anxiety is the principal feature, manifesting itself either in relatively short, acute anxiety attacks or in a chronic sense of nameless dread. Persons undergoing anxiety attacks may suffer from digestive upsets, excessive perspiration, headaches, heart palpitations, restlessness, insomnia, disturbances in appetite, and impaired concentration. Phobia, a type of anxiety disorder, is represented by inappropriate fears that are triggered by specific situations or objects. Some common objects of phobias are open or closed spaces, fire, high places, dirt, and bacteria.

Depression, when neither excessively severe nor prolonged, is regarded as a neurosis. A depressed person feels sad, hopeless, and pessimistic and may be listless, easily fatigued, slow in thought and action, and have a reduced appetite and difficulty in sleeping.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a syndrome appearing in people who have endured some highly traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, torture, or incarceration in a concentration camp. The symptoms include nightmares, a diffuse anxiety, and guilt over having survived when others perished. Depersonalization disorder consists of the experiencing of the world or oneself as strange, altered, unreal, or mechanical in quality.

Treatment

Psychiatrists and psychologists treat neuroses in a variety of ways. The psychoanalytic approach involves helping the patient to become aware of the repressed impulses, feelings, and traumatic memories that underlie his symptoms, thereby enabling him to achieve personality growth through a better and deeper self-understanding. Those who hold that neuroses are the result of learned responses may recondition a patient through a process known as desensitization: someone afraid of heights, for example, would be gradually exposed to progressively greater heights over several weeks. Other learning approaches include modeling more effective behaviour, wherein the patient learns by example. Cognitive and interpersonal approaches include discussing thoughts and perceptions that contribute to a patient’s neurotic symptoms, eventually replacing them with more realistic interpretations of external events and the patient’s internal responses to them. Many psychiatrists prefer physical approaches, such as psychotropic drugs (including antianxiety agents and antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs) and electroconvulsive (shock) therapy. Many psychiatrists advocate combinations of these approaches, the exact nature of which depend on the patient and his complaint.

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